Tag: #victoriansuperstitions

Opened in 1870 on Lake Erie, Cedar Point is the second-oldest amusement park in America and was home to the 1921 Dentzel Carousel, which traveled from park to park until landing there in 1971.

Artist Shelly was unaware of the stories whispered by employees about the ghostly lady who rode the carousel at night. She was simply fascinated by historic carousels – so fascinated that she made them the main subject of her work. Her life-sized renderings in pastels and oils depict carved animals from famous carousels. As drawn as she was to some of those marvelous menageries, she cannot explain why one plain old brownish horse captivated her two decades ago.

“I spent several days in a row, one summer, going back and photographing it,” she confided. She had no idea that the one horse by which she was so inexplicably mesmerized was haunted.

Alice’s family was very prominent in Pawley’s Island, South Carolina. When she had her coming-out party, her brother, who was studying to be a doctor, brought a friend who was working his way through school. When he and Alice met, they fell in love.

They got engaged, but because his social standing was so far below that of her family, she was forbidden to see the young man again. She hid her engagement ring on a chain around her neck.

With ancient roots in China, the cricket has long been considered a sign of eminent good fortune. The Chinese have traditionally kept the small black chirper as a pet within tiny cages.

Over the years, Merry Old England came to adopt the thinking that a cricket in the home would ensure prosperity and health. On the other hand, a deceased cricket might be a foreboding sign of what’s to come. It was unthinkable for one to stomp on the insect…to do such a thing would be to flirt with disaster!